Ninja Rider
by VA23
Summary: Naurto kills Sasuke at the Valley of the End and makes a deal with the devil to bring him back. At the same time, the greatest terror the world has ever known is unleashed again. Only one person can fight this evil: the Ninja Rider. Naruto-Ghost Rider.
1. The Contract

Ninja Rider

By Ninja Wolf 25

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Ghost Rider. They are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Marvel.

"Regular talking"

_Thoughts_

**Demon speech**

The story goes he'll be normal during the day, but at night, in the presence of evil, the Rider takes over.

Chapter 1: The Contract

"CHIDORI!"

"RASENGAN!"

With a thunderous roar, the two attacks clashed, fighting for supremacy. Naruto Uzumaki's chakra had turned red and had enveloped him in the shape of a fox. Sasuke Uchiha had powered up his curse seal to level two, with black, bat like wings protruding out of his back and his hair turned pale white. The Valley of the End shook from the energy these two superpowers were exuding.

Naruto knew that if he lost, not only would he lose his best friend to Orochimaru, but he would fail to keep the promise he made to Sakura.

Sasuke had to win. If he lost, he would be taken back to Konaha and punished for leaving the village of his own free will. He would also lose the only chance to gain the power he needed to kill his brother Itachi and avenge his clan.

As the two fought for dominance, a black pearl enveloped both of them. With a deafening roar and a bright flash, the battle ended. When the light diminished, Naruto was kneeling over Sasuke. Both of the shinobis were bleeding badly, but Naruto had taken it too far. Over Sasuke's heart was a deep spiral shaped impression from the Rasengan. Both knew that the avenger was going to die.

"Sasuke…what have I done?" Naruto choked out, his breathing becoming ragged and tears threatening to fall.

"Dobe…I guess you were stronger after all. Now I'll never be able to avenge my clan," Sasuke said through labored breaths, coughing up blood.

"You can't die! Help is almost here! The medics can heal you then we can go back to the village. Please just hang on!" Naruto begged the dying Uchiha.

"Naruto promise me…you'll get stronger and kill him…for me," Sasuke said coughing up more blood. "Even though it ends like this, even though I betrayed everyone, you were always my best friend…no, my brother." And with that, Sasuke let out one last breath, and was gone.

"Sasuke! Nooo!" Naruto sobbed and cried for what felt like forever, the rain mixing with his tears. He kept crying, until a voice interrupted his lament.

"What a shame. Life extinguished at such a young age."

Naruto looked up at the speaker to see a man a few feet away from him.

The man had sandy blond hair, flecked with grey. He looked to be about 5' 8'' tall. He wore a black trench coat, black gloves, and black boots. In his hands he held a cane half as tall as he was, topped with a crystal skull. He didn't even seem to be getting wet from the rain.

But what held Naruto's interest most was his eyes. Naruto had seen eyes that had Hell in them before, and this man had the same eyes.

"If you want, I can save your friend for you. We just have to make a deal."

Every fiber of Naruto's being was screaming at him to not trust the stranger, to deny the deal. But then he looked at Sasuke's body, trying to make a decision.

"Who are you? And what kind of deal are you talking about?"

"You may call me Mephistopheles, and the deal will bring your friend back from the dead. All I ask in payment is your soul and when the time comes, you will be my new Rider. A Ninja Rider if you will."

Now Naruto may not have been rookie of the year, but logic told him that it was impossible to bring back the dead, nor could someone just take your soul. But the desperation in him told him that he also carried the soul of a thousand year old demon in his belly, and that time was running out for Sasuke.

The fox in him screamed** "Don't do it baka! This man is the Dark Prince himself! Making a deal with him will doom us both!"**

"Shut up you stupid fox. I promised Sakura-chan that I would save Sasuke. It's my nindo." Naruto told him.

"I see. You have the Kyubi no Kitsune sealed in you. Well then, since I owe that bastard a favor, I'll make an amendment to the deal. Usually I kill the one I saved the day after the contract is signed. But in this case I'll let him live out his natural life. How does that sound?" Mephistopheles asked.

Naruto weighed his options. He didn't fully understand the repercussions he would one day endure, but he knew that this was his only option to save Sasuke.

"All right. I'll do it," Naruto said in a defeated voice.

Chuckling darkly, Mephistopheles pulled out a scroll and opened it. The rain likewise didn't affect the scroll and the ink did not run. Written on it appeared to be Latin, but since Naruto couldn't read Latin he skipped down to the bottom where he surmised that he had to sign on the line. In a panic he realized that he did not have a pen.

Mephistopheles, sensing the boy's panic said "Don't fret. You need only to drop a bit of blood on. That will do just fine."

So Naruto swiped a bit of blood from the corner of his lip and ran his thumb across the bottom. Had he been paying attention, he would have noticed that Mephistopheles' shadow in the flash of lightning was that of a goat on its hind legs.

Mephistopheles then began to laugh so evilly that shivers ran down Naruto's spine. "I will call on you when I have needs for your service. Until then I suggest that you acquire a steed."

Mephistopheles then put his finger on Naruto's forehead and the young blond fell unconscious.

When Kakashi arrived five minutes later, the only things he saw were a decimated valley, and his two students, alive and breathing.

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Well, what do ya think? This is my first fan fiction so please be gentle. How many reviews I get determines whether or not I continue. If you have any questions, either PM or review and I will do my best to answer them.

I realized that I called Mephistopheles "Mephisto" by mistake so I corrected it.


	2. The Dream

Let me start off by thanking everyone who read and reviewed, especially to Jak4, Gforce member45, and Turokl because they were the first 3 to review within 24 hours. Thanx guys!

I would also like to apologize in advance for probably messing up some of the Japanese words. I don't speak it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Ghost Rider. They are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Marvel. I tried to take ownership of Ghost Rider, but he said that I would have to look into his eyes first. I decided against it.

"Regular talking"

_Thoughts_

**Demon speech**

**-------- **scene break

It is in slumber that we live out our most wondrous fantasies, or our darkest evils.

Chapter 2: The Dream

Destruction.

That was the only thing Naruto saw. Everywhere was blood and bodies. Men, women, children, civilians, ninja, it didn't matter. They were all dead. Many were mutilated beyond physical belief.

Fires raged out of control. Unless someone stopped them, Konaha would burn to the ground.

"What in the name of God did all this?" he asked weakly. He could feel bile threatening to exit his throat. _I've got to find the others, _he thought, not daring to open his mouth. With a grim determination he began jumping onto any rooftop that was still standing.

After barley a minute of searching he came across something so horrible that he actually did vomit a bit. It was a bloody eyeball. What was even worse was that it was white and pupil less. Naruto knew that it belonged to a very unfortunate Hyuga.

A few feet away from it he saw something instantly recognizable. It was a piece of the horrible green leotard that Fuzzy Brows wore. _Please, if he's alive I swear I'll never make fun of his hair, wardrobe, or eyebrows ever again. _Glancing down he noticed another article of clothing. Upon closer inspection he recognized it as Tenten's pink Chinese shirt.

The farther along he went, the more clothing he found: Kiba's jacket, Ino's sash, Ero-Sennin's clogs, Tsunade-baa-chan's green shirt, Kakashi's mask, Shino's glasses. They all seemed to be leading him somewhere into the center of town.

The sight he saw in the town square was one of true Hell. In the center of the square stood a cloaked figure and around the stranger all of his friends, his precious people, the ones he considered family, were crucified upon wooden crosses. They were striped naked except for a piece of cloth covering their lower extremities.

But the first cross was the most horrible.

Upon it was Hinata, and Naruto figured out which Hyuga had been mutilated so horribly. All over her body were cuts, bruises, and burns, one or two even third degree. Her right eye was nearly swollen shut and her left missing completely. Through tear filled eyes Naruto could see her chest barley moving up and down. She lifted up her head and spoke barley above a whisper, "Naruto-kun, please…don't do it."

Naruto was utterly confused and horrified. But before he could ask what she meant, the figure behind him moved. Naruto looked and saw only fear. The figure was nothing more than bones, the skull seemingly alive with fire. As he looked on, paralyzed with fear, the skeleton opened its mouth and let out a scream of fury, and everything was consumed by the fire.

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"Ahhh!"

Naruto awoke screaming in his hospital bed, drenched in sweat. It took him a few minutes to realize that neither he nor Konaha was burning. He looked around and saw that Sasuke was sleeping in the bed across the room, undisturbed by the blonde's outburst.

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Well that took a lot quicker to write out than I thought it would. I wanted to get this chapter out of the way so that I can really start the story. In the next chapter I'll introduce the villain, and show you just how far Orochimaru is willing to go to get what he wants.

I think I might make this a Naruto/Hinata pairing. I always enjoy reading those.

If you're confused about the disclaimer, let me explain. In the movie, Ghost Rider has a power called the Penance Stare. If you look into his eyes, he can see all the sins you've committed and use them to burn your soul.


	3. The Revival

Rumors of my death have been widely fictitious. Sorry I haven't updated in 21 days (exactly). This chapter went through 4 revisions because I wasn't happy about it. And it has more words than my other two combined. I also found a Japanese translator online yesterday and put some Japanese words in.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Ghost Rider. They are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Marvel. I do, however, own my OC in this chap.

"Regular talking"

_Thoughts_

**Demon speech**

**-------- **Scene break

This chapter contains my first fight scene (it's kind of a prototype) so bare with me. And if anyone is expecting Naruto or Ghost Rider in this chapter, sorry to disappoint you. But if anyone wants to meet the bad guy and know what Orochimaru is doing, then gosh darn it, read on!

I put two pop-culture references in here. See if you can find them.

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Below Heaven lies Hell, and below Hell lies the cave.

Chapter 3: The Revival

Caves were a place of darkness and despair. Every year, hundreds of cave explorers lose their lives, either to cave-ins or their own foolishness. It is said that the deeper one goes, the closer to Hell one gets. This saying went especially true for the Cave of Dread.

Located in the far reaches of Desert Country, this cave goes so far down that light and oxygen are nearly nonexistent. There is no plant life, and thusly no animals. The ceiling and floor are covered in stalagmites and stalactites, sharpened by the centuries so that they looked to be the teeth of some giant monster. It is nearly unbearably hot because of a few steam vents that lead to underground magma pockets. Other than that there is nothing else of great interest.

So it would be only simple to ask why a snake and seven others were to be found down there. And the answer is also simple. They were looking for something.

"Orochimaru-sama, are we nearing our destination?" asked the white haired medic-nin, Kabuto.

The snake sannin chuckled, "Ku ku ku. Have patience, Kabuto-kun. We will get there when we get there."

The six Sound-nin following behind merely kept quiet. They knew that it was in their best interest to not annoy Orochimaru. The loss of the young Uchiha had provoked the snake Sanin into killing anyone who annoyed him in the smallest detail. The only reason Kabuto was still alive was because his medical prowess was far too important to lose.

Two of the ninja were Jounin of the Sound village and would protect the Otokage from any danger, although what kind of danger they would find down here they did not know. The other four Chunin and were being used as mere pack mules, and were thusly easily replaceable.

The two right behind the Sannin and the medic were carrying the essentials for this mission: food, fresh water and camping gear. The one behind them was carrying two heavy oxygen tanks in case the air supply became too low. The final one had the most unusual pack. He was carrying a large satchel that was lumpy in a few places. He wondered what was in it, but didn't dare ask.

The group had been walking, climbing down, and going deeper into the earth for what felt like hours. Finally, they came upon a dead end. The four grunts were utterly confused, but Orochimaru merely grinned and pressed a small part of the wall and it began to glow.

Suddenly words started to spread out in a spiral pattern. They appeared to be Latin, a dead language that not many today could read.

"Alright then Kabuto-kun; it is time to use that book I gave you," Orochimaru said to his right hand man. "Everyone else may rest for a bit," he said, addressing the other six.

"Hai, Orochimaru-sama. I will do my best," Kabuto replied. He then set to work trying to decipher the strange language before him.

After an hour, Orochimaru asked how he was fairing. "I am doing well master. From what I have been able to translate, if we make a blood sacrifice we should be able to get into the hidden chamber. It doesn't have to be serious, just a small amount will do. But after we do so, we will have to get past a 'stone adversity', what ever that means."

Motioning to the nearest grunt, he told him to bite his thumb. Said grunt did so and swiped his thumb across the spiral. As soon as he did, the wall began to shake and rocks began to fall down, nearly crushing the ninja, but they avoided them easily.

The rocks stopped falling and everything stood still. But something was bothering Kabuto. _The wall should have opened so why didn't it? Did I perhaps mistranslate? _Looking back down at his book he realized what was wrong.

"Orochimaru-sama. I mistranslated. It doesn't say 'adversity', it says 'adversary'."

"What do you mean 'adversary'? We must fight someone? No matter, they will easily be destroyed," the Sannin said confidently.

He then heard one of the grunts yell out in fright, "Very bad thing!"

Orochimaru turned around and couldn't help but smirk. The rocks that had fallen from the ceiling had combined themselves together to create a stone golem, towering above the group, easily topping fifteen feet. With surprising speed, the golem swung at the Oto-nins.

Orochimaru, Kabuto, and five of the ninja avoided the attack, but one Chunin was too slow. The golem's heavy arm caught the unfortunate shinobi and slammed him against a wall, turning him into a bloody smear.

Orochimaru pointed to one of his Jounin, "You, take it out." He was confidant that this nuisance would only require one of his best.

The Jounin smiled, finally able to fight. He performed a few hand seals, put his hand up around his mouth and said, "Futon: Oto Dangan no Jutsu!" (Wind Release: Sound Bullet)

An invisible beam of sound flew from his mouth at the golem and hit with enough force to topple an elephant. When the cloud of smoke cleared, the stone creature was in peaces. The Jounin could only smile at his victory, until the pieces lifted up into the air and reformed the rocky giant.

"All right then. If this bastard wants a fight, then give it a fight. Both of you," Orochimaru yelled to his two Jounin, "destroy that thing!"

The Jounin nodded and placed themselves on either sides of the golem. At the same time, both performed the same set of hand signs, held their palms out and shouted, "Futon: Tsuin Taihou no Jutsu!" (Wind Release: Twin Sound Cannon)

As the powerful attacks closed in on the golem, it seemed the ninja's victory was assured. But just before they hit, the golem separated into thirds, and the attacks went right through it.

Both Jounins dodged, but the Chunins standing behind them were hit and killed.

Orochimaru was beyond pissed. The stupid creature was making a fool out of him. If even his best ninja couldn't destroy the golem, then what did that say about him? He decided to take it out himself.

As the golem reattached itself, Orochimaru started making hand signs. After a dozen, he jumped high above the golem and shouted "Hyoukai Dokueki no Jutsu!" (Corroding Venom) and spat a foul smelling ooze from his mouth. When it hit the stone giant, smoke began to rise from its body.

After a minute in lumbering around in what seemed like pain, the golem finally melted into a puddle, the acid having done its job.

With the defeat of the guardian, the wall moved upward, revealing the chamber within.

"Excellent. We have finally reached our goal," Orochimaru said with an evil smile.

As the Sanin led his four remaining subordinates into the chamber, Kabuto had to ask the question that had been plaguing his mind throughout this whole trip.

"Orochimaru-sama, please forgive me for asking, but what exactly is our goal?"

Orochimaru looked at Kabuto and gave him an insane smile. "All right then. I suppose everyone deserves a little history lesson. After all, it's not everyday you get to meet death itself."

The snake Sannin continued to walk further into the chamber, talking as he went.

"Well, when I was still in Konaha I found an ancient scroll that told the legend of Kurogenshu Dark Sovereign). It said that 1,000 years ago, an individual practicing the dark arts made a deal with a demon to give him the power of life and death. The demon agreed but only at the price of his soul. With the contract fulfilled, the demon took his prize and the human gained the ultimate powers, immortality and the power to kill with just a touch of his legendary weapon, the Kyoufugai (Dread Scythe).

In battle he was a sight to behold. His very presence on his horse Cavallido (Pale Horse-Italian) would inspire great fear in those who opposed him. Thousands of enemies would come at him at once, and all of them would die, leaving not even a scratch on him. The legend says that he killed over ten million people alone. It also said that the 10 million souls of the victims were gathered together into a scroll. If anyone is able to find the scroll, they will be able to resurrect the dead as their own personal army."

The sound Nin following said not a word, believing that such a tale was absolutely impossible.

Orochimaru continued his tale. "And of course, wherever there is someone with power, there will be someone who will try to take it away. A trio of holy warriors banded together and were somehow able to separate Kurogenshu from his weapon and his steed. And if that wasn't enough, they then split his mind and body and sealed them within two of the warriors using the Gyokuji (Sovereign's seal) calling upon Kami himself to help rid the world of Kurogenshu's evil. The final warrior made sure to seal the scroll under another seal and then sent the Kyoufugai and Cavallido to opposite ends of the earth."

Orochimaru paused as the group approached two stone statues and a seal that was carved on the cavern floor. To Kabuto this looked liked no seal he had ever seen before. But to Orochimaru's eyes, he could tell that this was most defiantly what he had been searching for.

"Ku ku ku. Here it is gentlemen. The most destructive force that will ever plaguemankind. It is under this seal that we will find the scroll of 10 million souls."

Kabuto could hardly think of the potential. With an army 10 million strong, nobody could stop them. Even if every village combined their forces, they would fall to the Sound.

"Now we will break the seal and gather the army," Orochimaru said to his reaming four followers.

Orochimaru explained what everyone should do. His two Jounin stood in between the two statues (AN: statue, Jounin, statue, Jounin-in a circle) and the Chunin took the satchel and placed it in the middle of the seal. Orochimaru handed him a Kunai and told him to open it.

The Chunin did so and was shocked by what was in it.

A beautiful young girl with long brown hair, totally naked, lay before the Chunin. He looked to Orochimaru questioningly and the Sanin replied, "She is the virgin sacrifice. Surely none of you thought that power of this magnitude could so be so easily obtained. All you need now do is pierce her heart," Orochimaru replied with a sadistic smirk.

Kabuto was not disturbed by this, having helped his master in much more horrifying experiments. But the other three were horrified, especially the Chunin, at what he was being told to do.

For a second, the Chunin considered refusing to do it. Until Orochimaru sent a very large amount of killing intents his way, showing the Chunin's death to be more horrific than hers if he did not do it.

So with a heavy heart, he plunged the Kunai into the young girl's heart, earning a small gasp of pain from the unconscious victim.

At first nothing happened, and the Chunin was afraid that he had satanically murdered someone for no reason.

But then the blood began to seep into grooves of the seal, and an unholy light shone from it. The Chunin and two Jounin tried to get away, but found that their feet would not move. With nothing short of complete horror on their faces, the Jounin saw that the statues next to them had turned their heads to look at them.

The statues opened their mouths and said, "You foolish mortals have no idea the horror you have unleashed upon the world. For a thousand years we have kept this great evil in check, but now it is released. If the weapon, steed, and scroll are found, humanity will be no more."

Orochimaru gaped at what they had just said. "What do you mean!? If the scroll of ten million souls is not here, than what is sealed?" The statues did not reply. They merely gave one glance full of pity and loathing to the snake Sanin and crumbled to dust.

The light then died down and a lone figure stood where the girl had lain mere moments before. It was a skeleton, nearly six and a half feet tall.

The skeleton reared back its head and gave the most terrifying laugh that any of the ninja had ever heard.

"**AH HAH HAH HAH HAH! I'M FINALLY FREE!" **

It then noticed the terrified Chunin at its feet and the two Jounin still routed to floor.

"**But before I take my revenge on this world, I need some nourishment," **and it grabbed the Chunin by the head. With a sickening popping and crunching sound, the ninja's very flesh receded into his mouth, followed shortly by muscles and finally the organs.

All of these body parts were added to the skeleton, but it seemed not enough, for it now looked partway completed, with some organs, muscles, and an eye still missing.

"**Not yet. Just two more should do." **The monstrosity dropped the remains, now merely a skeleton itself, to the floor and made its way to one of the Jounin.

While Jounin are rigidly trained to be resilient to horrific sights, this Jounin was only a rookie, having past his exam barely two months ago. As such his mind seemed to have shut down temporarily to save itself from what was happening. When the creature grabbed him around the head, he regained his scenes and screamed bloody murder.

This did not stop the monster as the Jounin experienced what his subordinate had just gone through. Now the horror looked nearly complete, with just a few inches of skin and the right lung, both kidneys, and liver missing (which could be seen through the missing skin).

It turned its sights on the last Jounin. This one, however, was a veteran of 12 years and was prepared. With some quick hand signs he shouted, "Futon: Oto Dangan no Jutsu!"

A beam of sound even more powerful than that used against the golem was launched at the creature. It merely laughed and knocked the blast away with its hand, destroying part of a wall.

It grabbed the Jounin and finished its life draining technique.

It was revealed to be a man looking to be almost thirty years old. He had stiff black hair, a long black trench coat, and black combat boots (he looks kind of like what Blackheart did in the movie).

"Now time to see if my death powers have returned," he said with an insane smile.

Orochimaru realized that he had mistakenly released Kurogenshu, the Dark Sovereign himself, into the word. And it seemed the he was going to be his first victim.

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Thank God! That took too freakin' long!

The reason I used a different seal than the one the fourth Hokage used to seal Kyuubi in Naruto is because that jutsu had the Shinigami take the souls of the sealer and the sealed. But Kurogenshu had traded his soul for power and didn't have it anymore.

If you want to picture the life draining, it's kinda like what Imhotep did in 'The Mummy'.

In naming my OCs, I just took the translations and combined them together, so please do not tell me that I misspelled something. I did it on purpose.

In the next chapter, we see what Johnny Blaze has been up to, Orochimaru makes the best out of a bad situation, and Naruto trains and learns about the deal he made.

I will try my very best to have chapter 4 up within three weeks.

Be sure to R+R!


	4. The Alliance

Gomen. Gomen. My most sincere apologies for the lateness of this update. I promised an update within 3 weeks and it's been...2 months! Wow I suck! I've been really, really busy with school work. Add on to that, I'm working nearly every weeknight.

And I will NOT be quitting this story. I've got too much planned out for it anyway.

And I've been waiting on the reviews. If readers don't review, I don't know whether or not they like it, and thusly have doubts about writing. Just remember, every time you don't review, Kurogenshu kills a puppy (he's messed up like that).

Johnny Blaze may seem a bit out of character.

Sorry if the flashback seems too long.

Disclaimer: Why even bother? You know I don't. I know I don't. The true owners know I don't.

"Blarg"- regular talking

_Knock Knock- Thoughts/Flashback_

"**You foolish fools!" Demon speech**

(A cookie to those who figure out where I got these lines from! And you've got to know who said them.)

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Evil alone is terrifying enough. Evil combined is just insane.

Chapter 4: The Alliance

Fear.

Only two times in his life had he ever felt it. And both of those times he barely escaped death by only the grace of fate.

The first time was when he had defected from the Akatsuki and the leader himself had chased after him. He was quickly overpowered and outclassed by the most powerful missing nin to date. He escaped thanks only to his Doro Terepo-to no Jutsu (Mud Teleport).

The second time was when he had finally killed his ex-sensei, the Sandaime Hokage. The old bastard had somehow learned the Yondaime's sealing technique and nearly sealed his pupil's soul into his body. He had come face to face with the Shinigami, and lived only because the old man wasn't strong enough, and only sealed away his arms.

But now, Orochimaru was truly afraid for the third time.

He had watched in sick fascination as his single Chunin and two Jounin were, for a better word, devoured by the monstrous skeleton, Kurogenshu.

Personally, Orochimaru held the Dark Sovereign in high respects, and in great envy.

He had been fascinated at the thought of being able to kill anyone with just a single scratch from a weapon.

Orochimaru had also longed for immortality for as long as he could remember. He had spent thousands of hours and hundreds of test subjects in experiments of body switching. But he always knew that no matter which body he stole, there would always be one shinobi strong enough to kill him.

Now the great snake Sanin faced death, not from a ninja, but from someone who had been sealed away for a thousand years.

As Kurogenshu stood near the remains of the second Jounin, flexing his muscles and cracking his joints, a hundred thoughts raced through Orochimaru's head.

_Attack now while he's distracted! No! You saw what he did to those other three. You might end up like them! If I don't do something, I really am going to die! This can't be happening! I only wanted to seize the __Ippuku no Senmanhitodam (Scroll of 10 million Disembodied Souls). I never meant to revive him!_

Orochimaru took a step back. This proved to be a mistake as it attracted the attention of Kurogenshu.

"Ah yes, how rude of me. I forgot to greet the other two of my welcoming back party. My name is Kurogenshu, the Dark Sovereign. But you may call me your executioner," he said with a wicked grin.

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"So here's the bounty of 35,000 ryos, as promised," said an elderly man, handing a wad of cash to the recipient.

"A pleasure, as always," replied the Takigakure missing nin Kakuzu. He and his partner Hidan had just procured a rather nice bounty on rogue nin while on a reconnaissance mission for Akatsuki.

As he exited from the secret exchange place, he saw that Hidan was sitting under a tree, gazing in the other direction with a far-away look on his face. Kakuzu had expected to find his zealous teammate lying down and doing that weird ass ritual he was always doing.

"What's up?" Kakuzu asked.

Hidan didn't respond for a few moments. "There is a storm approaching" he finally said.

Kakuzu looked in the same direction, seeing not a cloud in the sky

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, his annoyance growing.

"Exactly." replied the silver haired missing nin ominously.

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It had been three years. Three long years of travel. Three years since he left his old life behind. Three years since he had regained his soul. Three years since he had saved the world. And three years since he had left her.

Roxanne Simpson. The love of his life.

He left her behind in order to put an end to Mephistopheles and his sick ways.

He left her behind to protect her from the evils he would face. He had learned that those who wished to hurt him would first go for her. And he couldn't bear putting her in harms way again.

Johnny Blaze had discovered that when Blackheart passed through the barrier dividing Hell from Earth, he had weakened it all around the planet, and now weak demons could enter the mortal plain. Johnny had taken it upon himself to travel around the world, destroying evil both in the form of humans and low class demons that made their way through.

For the past year he had felt a demonic aura that was usually low and seemed to be kept in check. Only a few times it felt like the energy was about to grow to a monstrous size, but it then receded. But a week ago, he felt the aura grow huge and threaten to release even more of its power.

If he had to guess, the demon was probably using only a ninth of its power. And a ninth was more than enough to worry him.

Johnny Blaze's chopper roared down the dirt road he was currently traveling. The wind whipped through his brown hair, making it look cool and wavy. He wasn't wearing a proper safety helmet like he should have.

But Johnny didn't care about that. Right now he had bigger things to worry about. Even though the temperature wasn't supposed to get below 70 degrees, he could feel the surrounding air growing hotter with each passing minute.

And that meant he was getting close to his target.

To his immense pleasure, Johnny saw that the sun had finally set. With a grin adorning his face, Johnny Blaze gave into the power struggling to be set free, and yet again became the Ghost Rider.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It had been a week since his fight with Sasuke and Naruto was currently sitting at his favorite place in the world, Ichiraku's Ramen stand. The owner and his daughter, Ayame, were surprised and worried about their best customer because a) the blond was only picking at his Ramen instead of wolfing it down and b) he had only one bowl in front of him instead of the usual ten.

"Naruto-kun, are you feeling okay?" Ayame asked with a look of concern on her face.

Naruto looked up and Ayame noticed that his ocean blue eyes didn't have that certain sparkle they usually had. "Yes Ayame-chan, I'm feeling all right. I'm still just a little tired," replied the blond Jinchuuriki.

"Well you did a wonderful thing bringing back the Uchiha, kid, so the meal's on the house," said Tatsu (that's what I'm calling the owner).

Indeed the rest of Konaha seemed to agree, as a great festival was taking place in honor of Sasuke's return. Of coarse Naruto didn't go because every time there was any kind of festival with any kind of alcohol, Naruto always found himself on the wrong end of an angry mob.

And the Uchiha was still in the hospital under ANBU guard per Tsunade's orders.

"Domo aurigato, Tatsu-san," Naruto said, thanking the old man.

To tell the truth, Naruto wasn't worried about what anyone would do during the festival. He was worried because of the conversation he had shortly after waking up.

(Rewind!)

"_Ahhh!"_

_Naruto awoke screaming in his hospital bed, drenched in sweat. It took him a few minutes to realize that neither he nor Konaha was burning. He looked around and saw that Sasuke was sleeping in the bed across the room, undisturbed by the blonde's outburst._

_But that didn't mean that his shout didn't alert the ANBU guard standing outside his door._

"_Is everything all right in here Naruto-san!?" the monkey masked guard yelled, kicking down the door with a bang in his hurry to get in. _

_Naruto sweat-dropped when he saw that the ANBU had drawn his katana in one hand and a few kunai were poised to throw in the other. _

"_Yeah, everything's cool dude. I just had a really bad dream," Naruto said raising his hands to show he wasn't armed. _

"_Oh...sorry." The ANBU then put away his weapons and walked back outside. _

'_How in the world did he get to be ANBU?' Naruto wondered to himself. _

_x 1 hour later x _

_Naruto and Sasuke had been moved to separate rooms so that Tsunade and Jiraiya could talk to him in private (and because _somebody _had kicked the door down and hadn't bothered to put it back up)_.

"_You'll be pleased to know that everyone is alive. We managed to save Neji and Choji just in the nick of time." Tsunade said. "I'm also placing Sasuke on probation, and he will be under ANBU guard 24/7."_

_Then Jiraiya spoke in a serious tone. "Okay kid, I want you to tell us exactly what happened when you fought Sasuke at the Valley of the End. We need to see if the seal is getting weaker," Jiraiya said to his student. _

_Naruto didn't know what to tell them. He could very easily tell them about the group splitting up to take on the Sound Four one-on-one. He could also tell them how he used the Kyuubi's power to defeat Sasuke. _

_But how could he tell them he made a deal with the devil and sold his soul? _

_So Naruto told them everything up to the point where he killed Sasuke. He decided to leave out that and the part with Mephistopheles and just said that both he and Sasuke collapsed from Chakra exhaustion._

"_And the next thing I remember was waking up here," Naruto finished. _

_Both Sannins seemed as if they believed the story. _

"_Wow kid. You're growing stronger everyday." Jiraiya said appraisingly. "But it seems as though the seal will hold. If that's all, I got to go meet with my informant about Akatsuki. I'll see you both when I get back." And with that the toad Sannin left the room. _

_It was silent for a few minutes before Tsunade spoke. "I truly believe you'll be the one to take my place gaki." She then gave him a hug and left, leaving Naruto by himself. _

_Naruto felt horrible, lying like that to his surrogate mother and grandfather. But he just couldn't bring himself to tell them. He would, when he was ready. _

_But he wished there was someone he could talk to. Anyone who knew anything about that stranger would be a great help._

_Letting his exhaustion take over, Naruto closed his eyes._

_When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a dark sewer. Recognizing this place to be the inner workings of his mind, Naruto followed the path to the bane of his existence. _

_After a few minutes of walking, Naruto once again found himself standing in front of the cage that held back the most destructive force the world had ever seen. The great Kyuubi no Kitsune._

_Suddenly there was a deep chuckle from the cage. __**"So then boy, I guess you want answers," **__a voice said. Then a pair of great red eyes flashed open, pupils slited like a cat's. _

"_Yeah. I want to know everything you know about that guy and the deal I made," Naruto told the giant fox. "It sounded as if you knew him already." _

"_**Yes that is true. Well, as you already know, the man's name is Mephistopheles. Basically, he is the King of Hell. You might know him by a different term, the Devil." **__Naruto gasped. __**"And we met about 500 years ago when I only had four tails. He came to me asking for help when one of his upper class demons escaped and was wreaking havoc on the humans. I was able to out class the demon and sent it back to the underworld, thusly having the devil owe me a favor. Which you wasted saving that traitorous friend of yours, I might add," **__Kyuubi said angrily. _

_Naruto sat there absorbing the information. But the other part of the question was left unanswered. _

"_And that contract I signed. He said that I would become a Rider? What does that mean?" _

_Kyuubi remained silent for a few minutes, gathering his thoughts. _

"_**When a human dies, if their hearts are pure, they go to Nirvana. But if their soul is stained with sin, they are sent to Hell. Back in the old days, man lived without rules or regret. They did what they wanted, not caring who was hurt or what the consequences would be. This pleased Mephistopheles to no end as their souls would go to him. But then man developed a conscience, and with it regret. They changed their ways and more and more were sent to Nirvana to live their after life in peace." **_

"_Okay that's great and everything, but what does it have to do with me?" Naruto interrupted, growing impatient._

"_**If you'll hold on a minute, flesh bag, I'm getting there. Anyway, Mephistopheles decided that if the souls wouldn't come to him willingly, he would force them too. Whenever someone wanted something, whether it be riches, revenge, or resurrection of a loved one, he would go to them and have them sign away their souls via contract. Now as soon as the soul was his, Mephistopheles would take away the thing they signed for, the only exception being the Uchiha. Now what he meant by you becoming a 'Rider' is that the ones who sold their souls would become the devil's bounty hunters, bringing in rouge demons or taking care of something Mephistopheles couldn't." **_

_Kyuubi stared down at Naruto. The young boy was staring at the floor as if it were something interesting. _

"_So, you're telling me that now my soul belongs to Mephistopheles and I have to do his bidding?" Naruto asked in disbelief. _

"_**As much as I hate to say it, you're royally screwed kid." **_

_Then Naruto felt as if he was being sucked up, and found himself back in the hospital._

(Back to the present)

Naruto finished his meal and left for home. Everything that Kyuubi had told him played in his head like a broken record.

Had he known what the deal was back then, would he have still gone through with it?

Yes.

He still would have done it. He would go to hell and back to keep a promise. And now it seemed he would be doing that literally.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kurogenshu advanced on his prey like a lion would a scared lamb. He even bared his teeth for added effect.

Orochimaru didn't know what to do. Both he and Kabuto had tried nearly every jutsu they had, but nothing worked against this monstrosity.

Now Kabuto was so tired, he was nearly keeling over. Even Orochimaru was running low, but he still had enough Chakra left for a last ditch jutsu.

"Kabuto, I need you to distract while I gather enough energy to get us out of here. Just don't die," Orochimaru said to the medic.

"Of course, Orochimaru-sama. I won't let you down." Kabuto said, touched that his master would care enough to save him.

_Fool, _the snake man thought, _I only have enough energy to get my self out. Such a shame. You were always there to help. Your sacrifice will be remembered. _

As Orochimaru gathered Chakra, Kurogenshu realized what he was about to try.

"As much as I love lies and betrayal, I won't allow you to escape. Shouton: Kago Kosshi! (Death style: Cage of Bones)"

When he called out his attack, Kurogenshu unleashed his own Chakra and made the bones from the slain Sound ninja rise up and form a cage around Orochimaru and Kabuto.

Now Orochimaru knew he was royally screwed.

"Now then, time to see what your innards look like," Kurogenshu said, picking up a kunai.

Orochimaru had to try something. He couldn't die. It was his destiny to live forever.

"Wait! Don't kill me. I can be extremely beneficial to you!" the Sannin cried out.

Kurogenshu paused with a bemused look on his face. Then he started to laugh uproariously.

"Ha ha ha. How could a snake and a medic prove to be of any use to me? Snakes are vile creatures and I can heal myself."

This was why Orochimaru always kept an ace up his sleeve. "That's true, but I can help you find the Ippuku no Senmanhitodam!"

This caught Kurogenshu's attention. "You know where to find the scroll of my army?"

Orochimaru realized his mistake. "Not exactly. But the world has changed much in the past millennium. It would be easier to find it with our help."

Kurogenshu weighed his options. While he despised beggars and cowards, these two could find the scroll for him while he took care of other things.

"All right, you have convinced me. But I'm going to have to make sure the both of you don't run away," he said. Moving quickly, he put his two pointy fingers against Orochimaru's and Kabuto's foreheads. There was a burning sensation and when he removed his fingers, a tattoo with the kanji for fallen had appeared.

"Now no matter where you are, I will find you." Kurogenshu said with a satisfied smirk. He then removed the cage that held them. "Now while the two of you find where my scroll is, I'm going to get some more friends."

And with that, the Sovereign of Darkness exploded into a cloud of shadows, leaving the two alone.

xxxxxxxxx

Whew!

Well, it took me a while, but here's the next chapter.

I hope I did a good job and left you guessing. What did Hidan mean? Will Johnny attack Naruto? When will Naruto transform and what will he look like? Who is Kurogenshu looking for? Why am I asking you these things? Review and I may/may not tell.


	5. The Lost

Sorry this took so long. Here's my list of excuses: 1) I hate my job. My boss clearly wants me to work as much as I can before school starts up again. (I quit, so more writing time!) 2) School started on August 10th. Yes it was a Friday and yes that is retarded. And that also means my already limited time is going to be more stressed out what with me being a senior. 3) Apparently, I'm the only idiot around who gets a cold in the summertime. 4) I was at a loss for inspiration. The main things I want to write are the awesome fight scenes I got planned out, but I need stuff to fill in between the fights. If anyone as any ideas, **please** feel free to put them in a review or PM. 5) Zombies over ran my town I had only 72 hours in a mall to figure out why. 6) I was fighting off an extremely religious alien brotherhood that was trying to extinguish humanity. 7) I was trapped in an underwater city filled with crazies with genetic superpowers.

Thanks for waiting anyway. This chapter will focus mainly on Naruto and Johnny.

"Regular talking"

_Thoughts_

**Kyuubi/Rider Speech**

**-------- **Scene break

"Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves."

Chapter 5: The Lost

A slave.

That was what the kitsune had basically said he was now. A slave to Mephistopheles and his will. His selfless sacrifice to save Sasuke's life had cost him his freedom. What was that old saying? "Nice guys finish last". Yeah. That was proving to be true in ways very few mortals could ever understand.

Naruto Uzumaki sighed as he walked down an empty street.

Just two weeks ago, Team 7 had been your normal, run-of-the-mill Genin team of the ninja village of Konaha. Although one was a demon container, the next a brooding avenger, the third a love struck fan girl, and their sensei was a chronologically tardy pervert. And he would give anything to have those days back.

Now everything was so messed up. Naruto had a second curse to deal with, Sasuke was still under house arrest, and he hadn't even seen Sakura or Kakashi since they had visited him in the hospital on separate occasions.

Both of them had visited for less than an hour before excusing themselves to go see their precious Uchiha. Kakashi had congratulated him on a job well done and Sakura had thanked him most generously with a giant hug and a kiss on the cheek. He still hadn't washed that spot in over 10 days.

But what had changed most was Naruto's look. If a villager was to see the young ninja now, they would have trouble recognizing him. Instead of his regular 'kill me orange', the blonde was wearing a dark black muscle shirt, black ANBU pants like Kakashi wore, and a dark trench coat like Ibiki wore during the Chunin exam. It was a look that didn't say "I'm emo, leave me alone," but said that he was one not to be messed with.

He had also decided to get a weapon. Or more precisely, two weapons; one for each arm. He had purchased two arm blades that were as long as his arm from wrist to elbow. The blades were currently folded down against his arm, but with just a quick concentrated burst of chakra, he could whip the blades out in an instant. To make sure the weapons wouldn't damage his new coat, Naruto had gotten one with slits in the arm like some dress shirts have.

But that damn mark wouldn't stop irritating him! After his release from the hospital, he had found a strange marking on his left bicep. It didn't show up till the day after he returned to his apartment.

The mark was 6 inches long and completely black. It was shaped mainly from a triangle that had two curves protruding from the end points of the triangle's top. There was an X through the middle of the triangle beginning from inside the bottom two corners. At the top with the curves, a V shape overlapped them (AN: if you still don't have a good idea what it looks like, check out the picture on my profile).

The damn thing would either burn or prick his skin, and no amount of home remedies would cure it. Naruto was afraid to go to Tsunade for help because she would ask where he got it. Naruto couldn't tell her his idea of it being a mark of the devil and he couldn't lie about it less the Hokage check the library to find out the truth. So he ignored the small irritation as best he could.

But the nightmares he couldn't ignore. Every night since he had discovered the thing, his dreams would be plagued by horrors almost equaling the one he had when he first woke up in the hospital. Chaos everywhere, bodies mutilated, fires raging out of control.

But the worst part was the screams. Constant, never ceasing wailing and gnashing of teeth. He never saw the faces of those being tortured and he didn't want to.

He had tried going to the Kyuubi for guidance, but every time he tried to go to his inner mind, he felt something blocking him. Whether it was the fox keeping him out or something else, he didn't know.

For the first time in his life, he felt totally and completely lost.

--------------------------------------------

"**Hell Fire Blast**!" yelled out a ghostly figure, shooting a ball of fire from its skeletal hand. The low-level demon on the receiving end of the attack screamed as it was instantly turned to ash.

The other demons were in a panic. They had gotten past the barrier dividing Hell from the mortal plain only a few days ago and had barely caused any destruction or carnage. The five demons had found a group of hikers in the woods near where they materialized and had slaughtered them and feasted on the corpses. Before they could continue their indulgence of human flesh in a nearby town, the five had been found by the one thing every demon feared.

A rider.

Someone who has been chosen by the dark prince to become his bounty hunter. The darkest and most destructive powers of Hell were at their disposal, and this one seemed Hell bent on annihilating the remaining four demons.

"Damn you, you fucking bastard!" yelled one of the demons, rushing at the burning skeleton.

The rider calmly looked at the charging foe without moving. When the demon was about to strike, the Ghost Rider used his battle chain like a whip and ensnared the demon around the neck. With a quick jerk from the rider, the demons head made a snapping noise as the vertebrae separated.

While the Ghost Rider was concentrating on that demon, two of the remaining three appeared beside and in front of him. With all the strength they could muster, the duo pieced him thru the side and front of his leather jacket.

But instead of screaming in pain, the rider just looked at the two and said, "**Is** **that really the best you got?**" Then the flames from his skull then exploded outward, lighting up the night sky and frying the two.

The last demon decided that he valued his life more than avenging his comrades; so he high tailed it out of there.

The Rider saw this act of cowardice and chuckled darkly. Reaching behind his back, the skeleton pulled out a sawn-off Winchester Model 1887 shotgun. Infusing it with his powers, the gun took on a demonic and more powerful look.

"**Austa la vista, baby," **the rider said, quoting one of his most favorite movies from when he was young. He pulled the trigger and a bullet of pure, hot fire shot out and went right thru the demon's torso.

"Ow," was the only thing he could say before keeling over and then turning to ash.

The Ghost Rider stood looking over the battlefield. Nothing but scorched earth was left. Suddenly he doubled over in pain and cried out. He continued to scream in agony as the sun dawned on a new day.

After a few moments of pain, the rider stood back up; now back to his fleshy, human form of Johnny Blaze. Instead of fire, the top of his head now held the wavy brown hair that made so many women swoon back when he was one of the most famous stunt riders in the world.

Now where was he? Hunting demons and risking his life everyday. He couldn't die while in his Rider form, but he could still feel pain.

Thinking back, he still couldn't figure out why, when the first time he transformed to battle Blackheart, he was run over by a semi driven by the Elemental of Earth, and when he de-transformed, he was fine. But on that same night, he was stabbed by some punk mugger and he had to get sown up by the Caretaker. Very strange.

Checking himself out, he made sure the demons hadn't done any lasting damage. Luck seemed to be with him this time, as the only thing damaged was his jacket.

"Damn it all," Johnny said with exasperated sigh. "This was my favorite jacket too. I've barely got enough for food and gas. And everything on this continent is so god damn expensive."

After finishing the most dangerous demons on the Northern continent, Johnny had made his way across the ocean to the Eastern continent. This was where he had sensed that monstrous power that had him worried so much.

But now he was at a loss of where to go and what to do for cash. And what was worse was that stupid marking on his left arm wouldn't stop bothering him.

---------------------------------------

"_Is this what death feels like? It's so cold" _thought the young boy as his mind, soul and body lay in the cold darkness.

"_Was I not able to join you master? Was my sacrifice for nothing?" _ His master had saved him, taught him, and been like a father to him. Was this his punishment for taking so many lives under the service of his master: to never be able to see him in the afterlife? It just wasn't fair. He didn't want to be alone and lost in this cold.

"Now now little one. When I find you, you won't be alone or lost anymore," said a voice from nowhere.

"_Who's there? Are you an angel?" _thought the confused youth.

The voice gave a deep, almost malicious, chuckle. "No I'm not an angel. Far from it. But I can reunite you with your master. You just have to help me out with a few small things."

"_What can I help you with? I'm dead. I am of no use to anyone. I have no purpose."_

"You may be dead, but I can fix that. Just concentrate hard enough and I will find you. Then after you have helped me, you will see you master again. I promise" the voice spoke in an almost comforting tone.

"_What have I got to lose? All right, I'll help you." _ The last thing on his mind before the boy fell into a deep meditation was one word: Zabuza.

---------------------------------

Wow! And that only took a month! So sorry again if I made everyone wait. If you want to help speed things up, send in your ideas with your reviews. That should really help!


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